Crisis and opportunity

Nearly everyone and everything — people, organizations, and societies — have been severely impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic. Yet some of history’s most important innovations have been created as a result of similar crisis situations. In a complimentary livestream recently hosted by The Ivey Academy, innovation expert Rob Austin weighed in on the relationship between crises and innovation:

“The general effect of something like a pandemic is that it jolts us — it takes us to places we would not have necessarily gone otherwise, and I mean that both in a physical sense and also in the sense of our thinking.”

In the latest issue of Ivey Business Journal, Austin and Mark Healy, discuss how the pandemic has many organizations experimenting and innovating. The role mistakes play in innovation – also known as "accidental innovation" – is examined, as well as the importance of having a curious mindset to capitalize on unexpected setbacks.

Note: This article was originally published under our former name, The Ivey Academy. We are now known as Ivey Executive Education.

About Ivey Executive Education

Ivey Executive Education is the home for executive Learning and Development (L&D) in Canada. It is Canada’s only full-service L&D house, blending Financial Times top-ranked university-based executive education with talent assessment, instructional design and strategy, and behaviour change sustainment. 

Rooted in Ivey Business School’s real-world leadership approach, Ivey Executive Education is a place where professionals come to get better, to break old habits and establish new ones, to practice, to change, to obtain coaching and support, and to join a powerful peer network. For more learning insights and updates on our events and programming, follow us on LinkedIn.